AUSTRALIA has claimed its third-straight women’s World T20 title after hammering England in the final in Dhaka, ending a year of agony against its great rivals.

Dual-international Ellyse Perry hit the winning runs to secure a crushing six-wicket victory for the Southern Stars, reaching the target of 106 with almost five overs to spare.

It was a third world T20 title for Australia, who lost back-to-back Ashes series in 2013-14.

The target set by England proved way too small, as captain Meg Lanning (44 off 30 balls) and another young veteran in the form of Perry (31 not out off 32) added 60 in just over eight overs for the third wicket.

News_Image_File: The Southern Stars celebrated their victory in style.

Australia smashed 10 fours and four sixes and kept England to just eight boundaries.

Lanning was out just two runs shy of the target and veteran Alex Blackwell (0 off 3) was trapped lbw with the scores level.

Elyse Villani (12 off 17) and Jess Jonassen (15 off 8) got the chase off to a quick start.

Earlier, England fell well short of a competitive total thanks to a superb spell of bowling by Sarah Coyte.

The Aussie pace bowler finished with figures of 3-16 from her four overs, maintaining a tight line that frustrated the English batters. England couldn’t build a partnership of more than 33 runs and Heather Knight (23 off 24 balls) was the only England batter to pass 20.

News_Image_File: Meg Lanning was superb with the bat once again.

The wickets were shared among the Australian attack. Coyte (3-16 off four overs) was the most successful and was named player of the match for her efforts.

“We came over here with a great side and I think we played close to the perfect match today,” Lanning said.

“We bowled first so we needed to bowl well. It was definitely our bowlers that set it up today.

“We had our plans and we executed really well.

“We’re attacking in nature and we love to play our shots, so I think today we didn’t want to change anything.”

News_Rich_Media: Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry, who guided the Southern Stars to a six wicket win over England in the women's World T20 final, has credited the depth in the Southern Stars attack as they claimed a third consecutive crown in the tournament.

England captain Charlotte Edwards, the architect of so many of her team’s wins over Australia, said her side wasn’t good enough on the day and 105 was never going to be enough.

“We were completely outplayed today by a very good Australian team,” Edwards said.

“They bowled very well. They bowled to their plans and came out there and batted with a lot of intent.’”

Coyte, whose victims included leading England batters Edwards (13 off 19) and Sarah Taylor (18 off 25), was named player of the match.

“They are two world-class batters and it was a big win for us when we got them out early,” Coyte said.

England bowler Anya Shrubsole took out the player of the tournament award.